Dare To Defend Christmas Like VDARE

Christianity, Founding Fathers, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Media, Propaganda

And MSNBC’s resident thug, Keith Olbermann, will libel you.

And TIME too:

Before it became part of mainstream conservative punditry, the leading proponent of the War on Christmas was a former magazine writer and editor named Peter Brimelow. A virulent anti-immigration crusader whose views were considered extreme by mainstream conservative journals like National Review, Brimelow founded a website called VDare.com that soon was at the forefront of the fight to sanctify Christmas cheer. Beginning in 1999, Brimelow ran a competition to spotlight offenders in the War on Christmas. The inaugural villain was the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which earned the dubious honor for hosting a holiday party dubbed “A Celebration of Holiday Traditions.” The following year, Amazon.com became a target of Brimelow’s wrath for subjecting consumers to the nondenominational greeting “Happy Holidays!”

Charity Choice

Ethics, General, IMMIGRATION, Morality, Multiculturalism

I suspect wily parties may be scamming private charities on a regular basis. I don’t have proof beyond what I observed on the one occasion. And I don’t know to what degree generalizations beyond this occasion are warranted.

In any event, what we saw turned us off donating food to our local food bank, which promises to supplement local, elderly pensioners. The latter, no doubt, will be hurt by our decision—but primarily by those who capitalize on the generosity of Americans.

We bought a boatload of non-perishable food for said food bank. Driving by to drop the stuff off, we observed a number of Hispanics (I’ll go out on a limb and venture that they are here illegally) waiting in line. I would gladly send a charitable donation to Mexico, if they returned there. As it is, they drain local medical, educational, and law enforcement services, for which I already pay.

I’m not forking over twice.

At this point, open-border libertarians will chime in with their gold standard non sequitur for belittling the burden of illegal immigration on the American taxpayer. Living at the public’s expense, they will allow, does indeed violate the rights of taxpayers. But why single out non-nationals? Is it any less of a violation of the taxpayer’s rights for native-born individuals to suck at the public teat?

To quote, “From the fact that you oppose taxpayer-funded welfare for nationals, it doesn’t follow that extending it to millions of unviable non-nationals is financially or morally negligible. (Or that it comports with the libertarian aim of curtailing government growth.) The argument is like declaring that because a bank has been robbed by one band of bandits, arresting the next is unnecessary because the damage has already been done.”

Back to the food bank queue. Another interesting specter was a worthy Asian gentleman, reasonably well-dressed, ample empty and sturdy bags in hand, who parked his relatively new vehicle, and entered the establishment to collect what I was about to drop off.

Again: No thanks.

We’d like to have a greater amount of control over our donations. So we’ve decided to bypass the iffy middle men and give the food stuff to an American family we know. They need it, will be glad to accept it, and won’t begrudge us for being the “oppressors” we are.

Pardon Me, Mr. President? Et tu, Pat Robertson?

Bush, Christian Right, Crime, Criminal Injustice, Law, Morality

The plenary power of pardon granted to the president is extremely broad.

But so far no word about the possible pardon by Bush of incarcerated Border-Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

The president had set a precedent in the case of Ramos and Compean. For defending their country, and in the process shooting a drug smuggler in the derriere, Bush sicced his bloodhound, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, on these Border Patrol Agents who, absent a pardon, will remain locked up for over a decade.

Although Bush has yet to pardon Scooter Libby, you’ll recall that he commuted his sentence. Bush had spared his fall guy, Lewis Libby, but locked up these patriotic, heroic agents—Ramos and Compean—ostensibly throwing away the key. No remorse expressed from the Creep-in-Chief in their unjust conviction.

I’ve said it before: Bush would wrestle a crocodile for a criminal alien. Soon into his presidency, I also pronounced George W. Bush bad to the bone.

As have I defended evangelical leader Pat Robertson in the past. But he’s clearly just a cog in the well-oiled, oleaginous, Republican Party machine. Robertson was interviewed today by CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux, who asked him about the pardons.

Robertson put his moral might behind making the case for a Scooter-Libby pardon. Now, as I’ve written, “the ‘crime’ for which Libby was convicted was also the crime for which Martha Stewart went to jail: lying to the FBI. Not for leaking the identity of former (so-called) classified CIA operative Valerie Plame. Richard Armitage did that.”

This was yet another abuse of power by crooked outlaw, US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

However, given his role in taking us to war, there was some poetic justice in the conviction of Libby (not that I support such justice).

There was no justice—poetic, or other—in the conviction of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

Updated: Another Icy Winter Proves Global Warming. What Else?

Environmentalism & Animal Rights, Healthcare, Propaganda

Heavy snow storms are expected, from the Southern Rockies to Arizona.

The Pacific North West is very cold and covered in fresh, fluffy snow. So long as we don’t have power outages, there’s food in the refrigerator, and the snow is soft and can be jogged on, I’m happy.

So far so good. After the devastating snow storm of 2006, in which we had no power for 4 days, the officials have done a good job preparing for all eventualities. Kudos.

Twice we have gone running in 12 centimeters of snow, in temperatures of 9 degrees Celsius below zero. For 4 miles. It’s outstanding. Now the snow is at least 45 centimeters deep.

The forecast is for “additional snow in Seattle and Portland Christmas Eve day. This could be the first White Christmas in Portland on record.”

Ignored have been the reports about the expected decrease in sunspot activity, indicating global cooling. But of course, the theory of global warming is immune to refutation.

“Thus evidence that contradicts the global warming theory, climate Chicken Littles enlist as evidence for the correctness of their theory; every permutation in weather patterns—warm or cold—is said to be a consequence of that warming or proof of it.”

As Karl Popper reminded us, “A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is,” of course, “non-scientific.”

Update (Dec. 24): Have you tried running in knee-deep snow? It’s lovely. And quite a workout. I call myself Heidi of the Pacific Northwest. I really enjoy the weather here. Nobody else was out, and one sympathetic motorist, thinking we were in distress, stopped to ask us whether we wanted a ride up the mountain. Nope, we were running and walking. It’s impossible to run uphill continuously in such deep snow, so it was stop-and-start. I’ll try and provide a snapshot of the bundle in motion: me. With his eagle eyes, Sean spotted a red-tailed hawk. A real treat.

I fail to get the fetish with heat—my home is never warmer than 69 degrees Fahrenheit. Maybe 70. The brain works optimally at 65 degrees. I cook and sleep with the window open. I cannot breathe in most homes I enter. Incidentally, for health fetishists, it might be worth noting that the air in American homes is filthier that the air outside. Fresh air is part of the health equation. Since I’m not anaerobic yet, I need fresh air to feel well.